Jonah Bromwich hopes Neil Young will remember. ‘
Here are two jams from Surface to Air Missive. Formerly of the one-man funk outfit Dream Love (and six other groups and projects before that), Floridian Taylor Ross is a multi-instrumentalist and Beat descendant. His songs with the new four-piece are ramshackle creations, vibrant and sprawling but structured enough to stand, however shakily, on their own. Most of the incarnations for Ross’s musical vision have been interesting, but Surface to Air Missive is the one most likely to appeal to your average listener. In a radio interview from Jacksonville, Ross claimed that “the sound of this project is my default,” and he does sound natural making music in this vein.
The vein is AM radio Southern rock, quite literally by way of California, as the group has been picked up by MatthewDavid’s Leaving Records label. A contract with Leaving means distribution from Stones Throw as the two labels reached a distribution deal earlier this year—and though Stones Throw has never done Southern rock quite like this, Surface to Air Missive fits in well with the good-riding vibes that the label normally supports. If you plan to boycott the cold seasons, this is the stuff for you—music for the mind in denial, aching for the sunny summer days that we’re running out of, at least here on the east coast.
